%0 Journal Article %T Theory on Orthokinetic Flocculation of Cohesive Sediment: A Review %A Zhongfan Zhu %J Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection %P 13-23 %@ 2327-4344 %D 2014 %I Scientific Research Publishing %R 10.4236/gep.2014.25003 %X

Investigation on flocculation phenomenon of cohesive fine-grained sediment has been a important part of sediment dynamics. During all of three dynamical factors (i.e., Brownian motion, flow shear and differential settling) that have been verified to play important roles in promoting flocculation of cohesive sediment, the influence of flow shear on sediment flocculation has been paid great attention by many researchers (this flocculation pattern has been termed as ¡°orthokinetic flocculation¡± in most of published literatures). Among many researches regarding orthokinetic flocculation, the dynamical equation developed by Smoluchowski in 1917 (we called it as Smoluchowski equation hereafter) has been widely adopted as an origin and basement for theoretically analyzing sediment flocculation under a shear flow. Meanwhile, many researchers have also pointed out the deficiencies of Smoluchowski equation (this is because the derivation of Smoluchowski equation was based on six different assumptions), and correspondingly have amended this equation from different aspects. In this paper, we attempt to summarize these results, hopefully providing the theoretical research of sediment orthokinetic flocculation with some references.

%K Sediment %K Orthokinetic Flocculation %K Review %U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52365